v2.6.0 Changes List

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Enhanced Precursors

v2.6 adds an additional option for Precursors. This is a separate checkbox called 'Enhanced Precursors' and will only function when the normal 'Precursors' option is active.

When Enhanced Precursors are active, Precursors are not immediately deployed when a ruin is generated. Instead, they are held in 'Tombs' deep underground and will deploy at some point after ruin generation. This deployment is known as Emergence.

The ground forces and each operational group will have a emergence clock, generated when the ruin is created. The ground forces will always have the shortest clock and will therefore emerge first to secure the surface. The bases and ships will emerge at some point after the ground forces and not all at once. This clock is randomised, so different ruins of the same type may have very different emergence timescales. Bases will tend to have shorter clocks than ships, but not always, and the small ruins will tend to have faster clocks overall, as their forces will tend to be small and easily deployed.

The timeframe for ground force emergence can be as long as twenty years, with the ships up to five years later. However, the emergence clock will run down faster than real time if there is activity on the surface or in space close to the planet. This includes ground forces and populations. Larger forces will have a greater effect on the clock, although this is not linear. Combat with Precursor forces will have the greatest impact on speeding up the emergence clock.

Unlike normal precursors, there is a significant chance a ruin is completely undefended. This is as high as 50% for a destroyed outpost and gradually reduces for the larger ruins, but a Partially Intact Colony still has a 20% chance of being undefended. When a ruin is defended, it will tend to have larger forces than normal precursors, with a 50% greater chance of each operational group type appearing.

These changes should add some more interesting decisions to exploiting ruins. While it is certainly possible to have a defending force waiting for emergence, they could wait years and there might be no defenders anyway. As time passes and more ruins appear, it will become more difficult to have defenders stood by in every location. Maybe a quiet approach is better, risking minimal forces to quietly exploit any resources without waking the defenders? Establishing a population is also risky on ruin worlds, even if the ruin itself has been exploited, there may still be entombed ground forces and ships, so populations will need to be guarded. Even different planets in the same system may be under long-term threat.

I may modify the detail behind the mechanics based on playtest, but the general principles should remain. I intended to run a playtest campaign on this relatively soon (which will of course be 40k )

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Enhanced Star Swarm

v2.6 adds an additional option for Star Swarm. This is a separate checkbox called 'Enhanced Star Swarm' and will only function when the normal 'Star Swarm' option is active.

When Enhanced Star Swarm is active, the initial chance to encounter the swarm in a newly-generated qualifying system (suitable mineral source) is reduced from 1 in 30 to 1 in 50.

This first encounter will be the only one that occurs 'normally' via exploration, as it is just the start of a Swarm Invasion. After that point, there is a 30% chance per year that new Swarms will be generated. As this is done per 5-day increment, there could be multiple swarms in the same year, or none for several years.

If a new Swarm is generated in a real stars game, it will arrive in proximity to the original invasion system in real 3D space. This is not necessarily close in terms of transits, but due to the way connections work, it should be in the general area. The arrival system is checked by arranging all known system locations (including those that have not been generated) in order of real space distance from the original invasion site and checking each one in turn with a 20% chance of selection.

If this is a random stars game (which does not have real space coordinates), the normal system number selection process will be followed, using the invasion as a start point and using the local chance and local spread settings to generate a 'destination' system. This could be an existing system, or an unused system number.

If an unused known stars location or unused system number is generated, the associated system will be generated and the new Swarm placed within it. This will be completely invisible to the player and any NPRs as they will have no knowledge of the system until they discover it (or something emerging from it discovers them). If this is an existing system, the Swarm will be placed in deep space, around twice the distance of the outer survey location ring. This could be an NPR system or player system.

The new Swarm will be generated in the normal way and may have different designs and technology to the original swarm. Later arrivals will generally have better technology. When a new "Invasion Swarm" is generated, there is a 20% chance the invasion will end and no further Swarms will be generated in the game.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Ground Unit Training Costs by Population

For v2.6, the training costs of ground formations with special capabilities may be reduced depending on where they are trained, based on the conditions at the time training begins. If a ground unit class has special capabilities, such as desert warfare capability, high gravity gravity capability, etc., those capabilities will be provided for free if the formation is trained on a planet where those conditions occur naturally.

For example, assume a new type of infantry unit is designed (Desert Raider), with personal weapons, heavy armour (x2), desert warfare capability (x1.25) and extreme temperature capability (x1.5), which will cost 0.375 BP. A formation of 2000 Desert Raiders has a size of 10,000 tons and cost of 750 BP. If the formation is trained on a desert planet, the formation cost will be 600 BP (750 / 1.25). If it is trained on a desert planet with a temperature outside the range of the species population, the cost will be 400 BP.

This is to simulate that it is more effective to train ground forces for extreme conditions or environments, if the training takes place within those environments. It also adds interesting decisions about where to train ground forces, rather than stacking all ground force construction complexes in a single location, and should create a more interesting force mix.

It is possible that conditions on a planet may change over time, so to avoid complexity, the cost is determined at the time the task begins. If formations are in a queue, the cost will be checked at the moment they begin training.

The 'normal' cost for formations will be shown on the ground forces window. Any reduced cost for training will be shown on the GU training tab of each population.

The following capabilities are free under the listed environments

• High Gravity. Planet has gravity higher than population species maximum.
• Low Gravity. Planet has gravity lower than population species minimum.
• Extreme Pressure. Planet has pressure higher than population species maximum.
• Extreme Temperature. Planet has temperature lower than population species minimum or higher than population species maximum
• Mountain Warfare. Planet has a dominant terrain type that includes the words 'Mountain' or 'Alpine'.
• Desert Warfare. Planet has a dominant terrain type that includes the words 'Desert' or 'Arid'.
• Jungle Warfare. Planet has a dominant terrain type that includes the words 'Jungle' or 'Rainforest'.
• Rift Valley Warfare. Planet has a dominant terrain type that includes the word 'Rift Valley'.